


exit wounds

by kyaku



Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: All It Can Do Is Delay It For A While, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blaming Yourself For Things That Aren't Your Fault, Coping Mechanisms, Everyone In This Fanfic Needs Like Five Hugs, For Want of a Nail, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, Presumed character death, Protective Siblings, Recklessness, Self-Sacrifice, Transformation, Unintentional Greek Mythology Parallels, Unnatural Disasters, death cannot stop true love, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 23:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5183093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyaku/pseuds/kyaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the kingdom was lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Don’t blow up,_ Ben thinks, and tastes bile in his throat.
> 
> –
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn’t make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _hello citizens! if you're seeing this message, you're now reading the director's cut of exit wounds! honestly not much has changed, but even if you're only here for part 7 I still recommend reading from the beginning. if you Really just want to see how it ends and don't care as much about polishing, the most significant change is an extended scene in chapter two, so check that out if you're so inclined. enjoy! ___
> 
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> _as usual: will probably do some minor editing on this as things progress, nothing major, I'm not expecting any drastic changes in the parts to follow but if I need to tweak for continuity then I will._  
>   
> 
> __  
> _[also: updating multichapter fics on ao3 is oddly tricky. if things look broken, it's probably because I'm moving stuff around. bear with me.]_  
> 

Ben wakes up and the world is gray.

It’s morning, but he feels exhausted anyway, the kind of tired that comes from sleeping too much instead of not enough. He rubs at his eyes, trying to scrub the drowsiness away, and reaches for his phone to check the time.

Instead of his phone, his hand finds an unexpected absence. Grunting, Ben rolls over just enough to reach down the side of the bed and retrieve it from where it’s fallen. 

When the screen lights up, it isn’t the time that catches his attention. It’s the messages. 

Ben’s at peace with the fact that he doesn’t get a lot of calls. When it comes down to the wire he’d rather read a text or just see someone face to face – and if it’s a little bit pathetic, that 90% of his already meager traffic comes from a single source, so be it. He’ll take Reed’s selfies and and too-grammatical texts any day. 

But this new influx is excessive even by Reed’s standards: a dozen missed calls and a handful of voicemails, all timestamped at around three in the morning. His brow furrows.

Then again, it’s Reed. It could all lead back to something innocuous, some kind of late-night breakthrough that Reed couldn’t wait til morning to share. Ben remembers sleeping over at the Richards house and waking up to the sound of a desk lamp flicking on, with Reed scribbling down notes too urgent to sleep on before finally collapsing back into bed. 

So an eleventh hour discovery sounds enough like Reed to pass muster. Ben could believe in that.

Then he starts listening. That’s when the worry starts to creep in.

 

-

 

_ “...told the guys, that I’m not going without you. So you need to get over here, Ben, fast as you can,  _ **_screw_ ** _ Neil Armstrong-”  _

_ “-look, look, I’m trying, give me a second, he probably just missed the first one- Ben! Listen, you need to pick up your phone and talk to me, things are happening, it’s kind of a big deal, so – call me back. Soon.” _

_ “Ben! Ben, come on, please pick up your phone, I know this sounds crazy but- it’s just really important that you get here as soon as possible, okay? Time is of the essence. It’s really late, I know, I’m sorry, but I promise it’s worth it, I’ll explain everything- I’m talking about changing the world and you’re  _ **_asleep_ ** _ and just- pick up the phone, Ben. Please.” _

_ “...one more time, give me- Ben, seriously, we can’t wait around much longer, but we really need you – I really,  _ **_I_ ** _ really need you. To be here. For this. Also in general. But mainly for this, so it’d be really nice if you could- talk to me at least. Instead of being asleep. I don’t want to wake you up, but I kind of do, and I promise you’ll get why when you get here, so-” _

_ “Hi, Ben. Look, we – we’re going, alright? Victor says if we wait any longer it’s not gonna work and we’ll miss our chance. And I, I want you to know how much I want you to be here, going with us. Like, if it was up to me- but this is the one time we’re gonna be able to make this work. But I wish- I just want you to know- I really- You’re the one who got us here, you know? Nothing would’ve ever...nothing would’ve gone right. Not without you. This whole thing, the gate, all of it – it’s yours, too. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. I just...I really miss you, Ben, I – I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, alright?” _

 

-

 

By the time Ben really thinks through what he’s doing, he’s already on the train. 

He tries to laugh about it, at first – better yet, tries to think about Reed laughing about it, the idea that some latenight drunken phonecalls were enough to make Ben drop everything and rush over. He thinks about Reed smiling, saying,  _ really, buddy, that’s what it takes for you to come and see me? _

Because it’s not like Reed hasn’t wanted Ben to visit. He’s hinted as much, even outright said it a couple of times. Ben’s the one who keeps holding back. 

But there’s always been things Reed couldn’t see, or just wouldn’t see. This is one of them. Ben knows the shape of himself, knows what he’s meant to be. So he knows he was never built for the world Reed’s in right now. After so many years of just the two of them together, Reed’s finally made it to a place where people think and work and feel the way he does, and he’s happy there. (He might only see fragments of Reed’s new life, but Ben would have to be blind to miss that.) The end result: Ben’s not as sure of his place in Reed’s universe, anymore. He’s afraid, much as he hates to admit it. Not of being replaced. Of being outmoded altogether.

So Ben thinks about Reed, about Reed waiting for him, and it’s a comforting thought. Except Ben can’t help but wonder why he suddenly  _ needs _ comforting thoughts.

He shoves his irrationality aside and snaps his attention back to the view from the window: the world all gray and bright, gong by too fast to see clearly.  _ It’s just a worst case scenario _ , he makes himself believe.  _ Nothing more than that. _

_ Reed’s fine. _

 

-

 

Ben’s only visited this part of the city once before, but it doesn’t take him long to remember the way. It’s easier to navigate this time, no luggage to carry, no Reed gawking up at buildings and nearly getting run over as a result. The Baxter Foundation looms like a sentinel against the sky. It’s almost reassuring. 

Then Ben sees the mass of people thronged around the entrance, and something heavy hits his stomach like a punch. He doesn’t run – he refuses to run, he won’t let himself give in to that new panic thrumming in his throat – but he still shoves his way into the pack, forcing his way to the front of the group.

“Move along, people, the building’s closed, nothing to see-”

The cop – she must be a cop – is exasperated, her loud voice carrying across the crowd. In retrospect, Ben knows he must’ve asked her what happened, but he doesn’t remember the act of it. He doesn’t remember anything in the wake of her answer.

“Look, the building’s closed for the day. There was a lab explosion or something, late last night. Nobody gets in til further notice. Why, you got business?”

A lab explosion. Late last night. Ben reckons he could pick out the exact time, if he tried.

“You alright, son?”

_ Don’t blow up _ , Ben thinks, and tastes bile in his mouth. 

 

-

 

The news makes it back to Oyster Bay before Ben does. As far as he can tell, someone came by the Richards’ house in the morning, after he’d already left.

The world blurs out, but people keep saying the same things anyway.

_ A freak accident. Such a shame. He was so young. _

The people who knew Reed better don’t say anything at all when Ben goes by. They just look at him, like they hope he doesn’t know, like they hope he does, just so they won’t have to tell him. He can’t shake the weight of their staring. In the days after that, he goes out less and less, until he’s not going out at all.

Ben asks himself, once, if he should visit Reed’s parents, go and say whatever people are supposed to say when there’s been a death in the family. What would be worse: seeing them uncaring, with their eyes dry, or seeing them grieving, mourning the way Ben wishes he knew how to.

Because that’s the core of everything, right now: Ben doesn’t know how to do this. All the things they talked about, before Reed left or even after, and not a word of it can help Ben understand this. And he knows, if things were different, if it’d been someone else, he would’ve gone to Reed, or Reed to him, and maybe they would’ve made some sense out of it. Reed could be good at that, sometimes.

But Reed’s gone. Reed’s gone, and Ben doesn’t know where to begin.

 

-

 

There will be a funeral. Closed-casket, he learns, which is almost a relief, until it sinks in and becomes distantly horrifying instead. 

Ben doesn’t remember his father’s funeral. Looking back, he thinks he must’ve been there – a little kid in a sea of suits and uniforms – but maybe not. Maybe he was sent off somewhere else, kept out from underfoot. His mother would know, he reckons, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he can just  _ ask _ , out of the blue.

In Ben’s head, Daniel Grimm is locked in a handful of photographs. When his father had died, he’d been too young to remember anything else.

He thinks back, then, to when his mother and brother would leave the house and he’d sit in front of the refrigerator, looking up at the portrait at the door. He’d sit there, thinking  _ there’s Dad, there’s your father, what do you want to say? _ And he’d never think of anything real enough to waste the words on, so he’d stay there, silently, until a door opened in another room and he slipped away again.

Was that a kind of mourning? Knowing that you wouldn’t get an answer, but still wishing you knew how to ask? 

Ben wouldn’t be unwelcome at Reed’s funeral. He’s Reed’s friend – was,  _ was _ Reed’s friend, he has to remember that past tense, now. He knows that he should go. He knows that going would be the right thing or at least the done thing and maybe in the long run, it would help.

That much he’s certain of. The same way he’s certain that he  _ can’t _ go. That he can’t let himself think of Reed as just a thing in a box, to be buried and left behind. Ben can’t bring himself to be a part of that. He doesn’t know what would happen if he tried.

When the day finally comes, Ben takes the truck and drives til he hits the middle of nowhere. He pulls to the side of the road, shoves his fist against his mouth, and screams.

 

-

 

It’s almost a month gone by when Ben remembers the messages.

He tries, at first, to keep from listening. He knows there’s nothing good about it – what’s the point of torturing himself like this? – but all it takes is one loose thought of  _ I’ll never hear his voice again _ to break him.

So Ben listens to Reed’s voicemails. Listens until he could recite them backwards, every nuance, every breath. Until it’s second nature for him to screw his eyes shut and search for Reed in the sound, trying to keep him for a little longer before the recording ends. He never manages it. That doesn’t stop him from trying.

Ben wonders, sometimes, if he’d been awake, if he’d been listening – would it have made a difference? He doesn’t think he’ll ever know what happened that night, and it’s worse to try and imagine it. Better to keep it like a flash in the dark, formless and unspecific, where he doesn’t have to dwell on  _ did he know _ or  _ did it hurt. _

Even before everything, he’d never wanted to think about Reed getting hurt. Ben spent most of his life trying to keep that from happening. 

_ You loved him _ , something says inside his head, a hundred listens later. Ben thinks,  _ I know. _

_ No, _ it says,  _ you  _ **_loved_ ** _ him. _

Ben feels like he’s been hollowed out and left to rot.

 

-

 

The world moves on. Ben tries to do the same.

Most days it's just a matter of going through the motions, reciting the right lines. Ben likes to think it comes more naturally these days. Likes to think that someday in the future it'll  _ be _ natural, too. Someday. Just not yet.

The past four months have been the longest he ever lived through. But he lived through them. He has to remember that. 

Ben isn’t sure what drives him to visit the cemetery at last. Only that it seems like the right time. That he’s far enough from Reed’s death that going there won’t undo him altogether.

It’s another gray weather day when Ben makes the trip. Clouds blot out the sky overhead. He picks his way through the headstones, passing flowers in various states of wiltedness, before he finds the spot he's looking for.

There are no flowers at Reed's grave. The marker is plain, name and years etched out in an impassive fashion, and Ben thinks he'd have missed it if he hadn't been actively searching for it.

What did he expect to find here? There's nothing about this place that feels any closer to Reed – just a name, just a body under the earth, it's not  _ Reed _ , it's not anything at all – and his hands curl into fists as for a moment he's caught up in the  _ unfairness  _ of it, that Reed's gone and he's- 

-still here, still waiting for the phone to ring, still hung up on conversations that they never got to have.

_ "I'll talk to you later, alright?"  _

"All this time," Ben says under his breath, ragged and weary, "and I still don't know how to miss you." 

It's not much. But it's more than he ever managed before, as a child sitting in front of a fridge, and he thinks that that has to stand for something.

Then Ben hears someone approaching from behind him and he starts, looking back over his shoulder just in time to see the newcomer arrive. 

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

Ben knows the voice but can't place it. He opens his mouth to say something like  _ it's fine _ , but the man goes on. 

"You're Reed's friend, aren't you?" An old memory clicks back into place as Dr. Franklin Storm takes a step towards him. "His assistant, from the science fair...Ben Grimm, wasn't it?"

"That's me." Suddenly Ben’s struck by how easy it would be to hate this man, standing there in his quiet dignity, to look at Dr. Storm and think  _ he'd still be alive, if you hadn't taken him away _ . And it's not a fair thought, it's the kind he'll regret later, but Ben finds it difficult to care about fairness, right now, against the sudden aching in his chest. Still, he does what he can to shove the thought aside.

"Reed often mentioned you," Dr. Storm continues. "To hear him tell it, you were as much a part of the quantum gate project as he was." 

Four months was long enough to scar him over, but Ben knows he isn't healed enough for this. As it is, he can't suppress a huff of disbelief. "That's just something he said. I wasn't – it was  _ him _ . All of it." Ben breathes, then, sure and slow. "It was always him."

"You underestimate yourself." The doctor considers him. "There were only three people in the world who worked on the quantum gate, before Baxter. You are the last one left." He pauses, like he's testing the weight of what he's about to say. "You might be able to finish what he started."

The world stills around them. There's so much wrong with the idea that Ben isn't sure where to begin. Because he's not Reed – he can't  _ be _ Reed, not the way Dr. Storm or anyone else might want him to be. And yet, he knows the shape of what he's being offered: a door to close, a possible goodbye. 

"Completing the gate won't bring him back." The words are raw in Ben's throat. 

"No, it won't," Dr. Storm concedes. "But he could live on through it."

This is a crossroads, but Ben thinks it wasn't much of a choice.

It was always Reed, after all. He's known that since the start.

"What do you want me to do?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the first part of exit wounds. is everybody sad yet
> 
> so yeah! this is a fairly standard for want of a nail AU, where you move one tiny thing an inch to the left and the whole universe tumbles after it. with this installment, you've got the nail (ben not going on drunk road trip), you've got a pretty serious repercussion (reed MIA on drunk road trip), and you've got the promise of more ripples on the way.
> 
> anyhow I don't know when I decided that killing reed richards was going to be My Thing but honestly in this cruel world of vivisection and heartbreak I don't feel especially out of place. and besides. y'all know darned well I'm going to put him back before the curtain drops. y'all know.
> 
> and this AU does have a name other than the generic-unwieldy "for want of a nail AU." but I think I'm going to keep that last secret on lockdown for a little while longer, since this is shaping up to be a multipart fic instead of the oneshot I thought it was going to be. spoilers and all. you understand.
> 
> chapter title is from the original for want of a nail proverb. right now, I'm thinking this fic will shape up to be three or four parts overall - we're four months in to my projected fourteen-month span, so it should work.
> 
> next time: ben arrives at area 57, and we see how the storms have been getting on in the aftermath.


	2. ghost stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Ben catches himself with a dead man’s words coming out of his mouth, the realization is a jab at an old wound.
> 
> –
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn’t make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know the drill re: post-publication edits by now. just go read the sadness already

Ben’s instructed to say that he’s been picked up for a job with the government, classified but well-paid. His mother is skeptical at first, but when he calls it “a change in scenery,” her expression softens into understanding, and she gives him her blessing to go.

Dr. Storm's people hadn't come looking for Ben. They'd gone back to Oyster Bay intent on collecting any remnants of research Reed had left behind, anything they thought could help them in recreating the destroyed gate. In a whirlwind of days, they gathered Reed's once-extraneous notes and crated up the prototype teleporter. Ben himself might be an unexpected bonus, but he's an addition to the pile nonetheless.

The level of secrecy around Area 57 is such that Ben's surprised he's  _ not  _ being brought in with a bag over his head. He isn’t sure exactly where they are – somewhere in the mountains, in the west, cut off from the rest of the world. It’s no surprise that the people in charge are trying to hide something. Only a question of what.

His new workplace doesn't look much like the pictures Reed always sent from Baxter, but a skeletal version of the quantum gate commands attention from the center of the room, with  technicians in white coats swarming around it like ants.

Ben looks around and knows that he doesn't belong here, just as surely as he knows that Reed did. This world is all wrong for him. But if rebuilding the gate is the closest Ben can get to saying goodbye, he'll take what he can get.

 

-

 

A few weeks later, Ben still doesn't know exactly what's expected of him. He's equally unsure of what Dr. Storm said to get him brought onto the project in the first place. He senses some exaggeration was involved. The unspoken truth is that if Ben was really good enough to serve as a replacement for Reed, he would've been part of the project the first time around. But with both of the real talents behind the gate now dead, Ben's presence is an attempt at maintaining control. A figurehead for a cause they won't admit they've lost.

The "they" in this equation isn't Dr. Storm. It's the government officials overseeing the project. One Dr. Harvey Allan is the most prominent of them, a thin-faced man with darting eyes who doesn't look at Ben so much as he looks through him. While Ben can ignore Dr. Allan's indifference, he can't shake his own unease about the man. If there are any strings on Dr. Storm and all the other scientists involved with the gate, Dr. Allan's the one pulling them.

While Dr. Storm is officially in charge of the gate project, it doesn't stop people from coming to Ben for help in deciphering the available research. The handwriting in Reed's notebooks is cramped, and it runs off in wild directions every time it hits the margin. Diagrams slot themselves in wherever they can fit, and also in a lot of places where they can't. Reed always insisted that his notes were perfectly comprehensible, but then, Reed's view of the world was never quite in line with the reality of it. The final result is a stone's throw from outright gibberish, but Ben flips through the notebooks and can only see their writer looking back.

Reed's left marks on him, too. The first time Ben catches himself with a dead man's words in his mouth, it’s a jab at an old wound. Objectively, it shouldn't surprise him. How many times had Reed explained the same concepts, with a look on his face like he couldn't believe Ben was listening at all? Shouldn't it be some kind of comfort, that after all this time, some fragment of Reed is still caught in his head?

So Ben learns to live with the feeling, the same way he would any other phantom pain. He thinks that something of him might've left when Reed did, too.

 

-

 

Ben's not the only one with reasons of his own for getting involved with the gate. In time, he finds out what Dr. Storm's stake in the matter is.

Or rather,  _ stakes _ . The present circumstances of the Storm family are meant to be more of a secret than they are in practice. Talk of Area 57's two subjects makes its way to him of its own accord, and soon Ben's able to confirm the rumors for himself.

Susan Storm doesn't look like a weapon. Even with her blonde hair cropped short and a heavy helmet tucked under one arm, Ben still sees the girl from the Oyster Bay science fair. But these days, she's Dr. Allan's prized Subject Two, fresh off her first string of successful military missions, and her eyes are frozen cold.

He has no preexisting metric for Subject One. Ben had only known Johnny Storm from the way Reed had talked about him, and Reed had described someone loud and brash and gloriously alive. That summary doesn't match the man Ben's seeing now. There's something  _ defanged _ about the present Johnny Storm, like he's smaller than the space he occupies.

It's like something out of a bad movie, people dodging death only to wind up with inexplicable gifts. Ben wonders what kind of door Reed opened, all those years ago, wonders what exactly has come through it in the end. He doesn't say a word out loud. But he keeps an eye on Dr. Storm, watching his children pass him by, and he thinks,  _ some doors should've stayed shut _ .

 

-

 

Despite some adjustments, the fireproof hazard suit doesn't quite fit, and Ben asks himself again if he's sure of what he’s about to do.

The answer's still no. Ben's just thankful that Dr. Allan believed him, when Ben explained that Johnny might have information that would speed up development on the new gate. It's not even a lie – Johnny's presently the only person within Area 57 who's actually been to Planet Zero – but Ben's after something else.

The accident that empowered the Storm siblings and the accident that killed Reed are one and the same. Dr. Storm had suggested that one or both of his children might have some answers for Ben, answers they might not give to someone else. 

"Why would they talk to me?" Ben asked. 

"Reed trusted you," the doctor said. "And my children could use someone they can trust."

So Ben goes to the hangar where Subject One hones his abilities, and when a man on fire falls to earth in a rush of heat, Ben steels himself and waits for the flames to die down before making his approach. 

Johnny's face falls noticeably once he sees Ben. "Allan said you were coming. Look, I've said it a million times, I don't know what that place did to me."

"I'm not here to ask about that." Ben takes a step forward. "I want to know what happened to Reed Richards." 

A pause. "You're Ben Grimm, aren’t you," Johnny realizes. "I knew someone was finishing the gate, but you – you're the one he kept calling that night." 

"Please," Ben says. "You were there with him. They told me he died in a lab explosion."

"You believed them?" 

"It was the only story I had." Ben fumbles with the helmet, trying to adjust it. The barrier it imposes makes everything else seem less real. "Can you tell me something different?"

Something flickers in Johnny's eyes. "You sure you want these ghosts in your head?" 

"What makes you think they're not already there?" 

Johnny's got the look of someone who wishes he was somewhere else, but who also knows there's nowhere left to go. So he tells. He tells, and Ben listens, and everything comes out.

 

-

 

Afterwards, there's a terrible moment where all Ben can think is  _ he was right, I didn't want to know _ . The feeling passes, more or less, but Ben can't escape the fact that it was there at all.

Because what happened that night was a lot bigger than a lab explosion. It was a string of bad decisions that ended on the side of a cliff with Reed reaching out. And of course Reed had reached out, had caught Victor's hand and pulled him back to safety, just in time for the cord to snap and surrender both of them to the abyss. They'd fallen, leaving Johnny to run back to the gate alone. Somewhere in the confusion another force of the planet had asserted itself, inflicting Johnny and his sister with their present conditions. The government stepped in to stabilize the situation, sweeping the loss of Reed and Victor under the rug in the process.

And Johnny blames himself for all of it. That much is clear in everything from his hesitation to the way he's been watching Ben out the corner of his eye, waiting for the anger he thinks he deserves. 

Once again, Ben thinks wildly of what might've happened if he'd picked up the phone when Reed called. He spins out a thousand scenarios in the space of an eyeblink, but there's a silence in the room he needs to break. "You couldn't have stopped it."  _ I couldn't have stopped him. _

"I know." Johnny doesn't meet his eyes. "That's the worst part." 

Under the helmet, Ben opens his mouth and closes it again. A stillness hangs in the air between them. Ben understands Johnny better than Johnny knows, thinks they might be carrying different pieces of the same burden, but he doesn't know how to express the feeling without collapsing underneath its weight.

A few months ago, all he wanted was someone to blame. Not anymore. Especially not after this.

So Ben wants to run. But he looks at Johnny again, thinks  _ you lost someone, too, _ and manages to find the words. 

"I'm sorry," Ben says, and Johnny jolts to meet his eyes, disbelief scrawled across his face.

Ben says it again before his throat closes up for good – says, "I'm sorry" again, knowing it's not big enough to hold what he means, but hoping Johnny will understand him anyway. 

When Ben goes to sleep that night, he braces himself, but in the end he doesn't dream of anything at all.

 

-

 

Work on the quantum gate kicks into high gear, and soon enough, Ben finds himself lost in it. There are still moments where the rebuilding process hits too close to home, leaves him remembering the air in the garage, the whirr and hum of cobbled-together machinery, but there's less and less room for distraction as time rushes by. As a whole, the atmosphere of Area 57 is alien if not outright anathema to Reed's sanctuary. Even the gate itself no longer looks the same.

Ben had hoped Reed would find more people like him at Baxter. Still, even before the accident, he hadn't been sure what to make of Victor von Doom. Reed had seemed so excited about collaborating with the other inventor, but as far as Ben was able to tell, von Doom was decidedly less on board. In the end, the new gate owes most of its lineage to Reed, a fact Ben's selfishly proud of –  _ Reed was special, he was always special, and everyone who stood in his way was wrong _ – but Victor von Doom remains a specter in the room, rarely seen but always there.

Neither of the quantum gate's late geniuses are mentioned much, and when they are, Ben catches people looking at him like they expect some kind of reaction. He never gives them one, but then, he's not exactly sure what they want. So he just keeps working, and they follow after him, and Ben begins to hurt a little less. 

It helps, he thinks, to have something to do with his hands. It means he spends less time alone in his head. 

Ben doesn't listen to Reed's messages anymore, but he keeps carrying the phone around with him, useless as it is. For security reasons, Area 57 is largely devoid of usable cell service, but the phone is more a talisman than anything else. Ben still catches himself sometimes, looking for a ghost out the corner of his eye, but slowly but surely he's getting used to seeing nothing there.

 

-

 

Getting an audience with Subject Two proves to be an exercise in futility. She's away on mission more often than not, and when she does come back, there's always a reason why Ben can't set up a meeting. Still, he keeps trying, until the day comes that he finally manages to catch her.

Subject Two spends much of her time at the gun range, wearing her armored uniform like a second skin. Ben arrives just in time to watch her conclude, taking off her earmuffs and heading for the security door. He tries to talk to her when she emerges, but she brushes past him before he can get a word out. Her earbuds catch Ben’s eye, and he wonders whether she’s noticed him at all.

“Wait-” But Sue flickers into invisibility as easy as breathing, and all Ben can do is listen as her footsteps fade away. 

He doesn’t get a chance to see her again, both literally and figuratively. Outside in the lab, Ben sees the lines on Dr. Storm's face grow deeper, and he wonders if he's the only one being shut out of the loop.

Johnny confirms as much, when Ben musters the nerve to ask him. "If Sue's not gone, she's training. Or resting. Anything to keep us from seeing her." His fists clench and unclench. "They can't keep her all the time, but – when she talks to me, she doesn't actually say anything. Just 'I know what I'm doing,' 'don't worry about me,'  _ bullshit. _ It's the same every time, even with Dad – and I'd get it, if it was just me she didn't trust, but Dad – he didn't do this. She doesn't have to blame him."

_ She doesn't have to blame  _ **_you_ ** _ , either, _ Ben wants to say, but Johnny goes on. 

"I thought she was just putting on an act for the cameras, at first-" 

"Cameras?" Ben interrupts. 

"They're everywhere." Johnny points at a spot on the ceiling, then at another. Ben looks, and electronic eyes wink down at them. His surprise must show on his face, because Johnny just scoffs at him. "Calm down, the paparazzi's not here for you. I'm used to it. More or less."

The area around the nearest camera is freshly painted, but a few scorch marks still show through. Ben gestures at it. "What was that from? More, or less?" 

A rare smile curls across Johnny's face. "Haven't you read my files? My 'condition' is 'unpredictable' and 'potentially volatile.' Can't fault me for a few missed shots now and again. It's not like Big Brother's hurting for funds, anyway." He sobers. "Considering they keep sending Sue to work."

Ben's noticed. Area 57 might house and train both Storms, but if a mission comes up, it's always for Subject Two. Her abilities are more subtle than her brother's, but no less potent, and maybe that's why she's been chosen every time – but it seems off somehow, that the military has two guns at its disposal, and still insists on only firing one.

"You want them to be sending you?"

"It doesn't matter what I want." Something briefly flickers out from beneath Johnny's skin, but he calls the flame back down. "It's going to happen, isn't it? Me fighting for them. That's why they're doing all of this to begin with. Why they're taking care of us, why they're building another gate – they say it's about finding a cure but they don't want to cure us, they want to make more of us. And until they can do that, they're going to put us to use. If it’s going to happen, I might as well be choosing it." He draws in a deep breath. "I've got something to make up for, anyway."

"It wasn't your fault," Ben says, like every other time.

"You keep saying that," Johnny answers, like every other time. "But you already know what I believe."

 

-

 

The gate continues to pull itself together over the next few months, but Ben's starting to wonder exactly what he's building. 

Ben remembers how Reed felt about the quantum gate, ever back when they still called it a teleporter. The way Reed talked about it, the gate was the key to a better future, a new light for a world with too much dark. Reed had believed in the gate, and Ben had believed in Reed, and that had been enough.

Ben doesn't know what Dr. Allan believes. Not exactly. But he knows it's a far cry from what Reed had wanted, all the same. Something poisonous lives in Area 57, growing stronger by the day, and Ben can't tell what it's going to become.

This is Reed's dream he's living in right now, him and the Storms and everyone else. What's going to happen when it comes time to wake up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> right. so. I did not expect to be gone for this long. between recovering from a several-month plague and relocating halfway across the world, a lot has happened to me in my absence. however! I am home now. and I brought part 2 of exit wounds with me...
> 
> ...sort of. see, you know how authortypes say that thing about the story getting away from them? that's what's happening now. this whole update is actually less than half of what I intended to bring to the table for part 2, and I would be more sorry about that except _holy shit people look how long this fic is getting, I'm so excited._ what happened? well, johnny storm basically decided that this chapter was going to be His chapter, to the point where he was stealing space from his own sister no less. why would you do that, johnny. that's so rude
> 
> this chapter marks the largest passage of time, I believe - part 1 as you know was four months, this one is around six, part 3 will likely be another month or two, and part 4 should be less than 48 hours. it's a very busy time for everyone. however, work is progressing neatly for part 3, so hopefully things will move faster out here in the real world, too.
> 
> chapter title is not sourced from anywhere in particular. yes, the name of this AU is still on lockdown. part 3 will deal with that situation. also, I will try to be better about responding to comments this time. trust me, I read and cherish them all. never have I ever been so happy to be told to go fuck myself. you're all great people and I love you.
> 
> next time: sue storm returns from the war, the quantum gate is completed, and there are revelations.


	3. the calm before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planet Zero is barren and dark, even accounting for the distortion brought on by the cameras, and Ben can't help but think it wasn't worth it.
> 
> \--
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> blah blah blah post-pub edits GO GO GO

Seven months into the reconstruction, since Ben first arrived at Area 57, the game changes when one of Sue's missions goes wrong. 

Dr. Allan sounds almost  _ proud _ when he talks about it. How the enemy had shot her in the arm by blind chance, how she'd left a false trail to lead them away before secluding herself and waiting for the extraction team. He says all that, but Ben knows that Johnny's only hearing the backstory of why his sister almost bled out in the back room of some terrorist's hideout. The only reason they're hearing the details of what happened at all is because Dr. Allan wants to talk up his finest soldier. 

So now they're left outside Sue's room, waiting to be let in. Small mercy that they've already allowed Dr. Storm to see his daughter, even if she'd still been unconscious at the time. Johnny's tense even with his head buried in his hands, and when someone finally emerges, he springs to his feet.

The doctor stops him. "Not you. She asked for him." He looks to Ben.

Anger blazes to life across Johnny's face. "What? Bullshit, she's my  _ sister- _ " 

"She was insistent."

Johnny gives Ben an unreadable look before throwing himself back into the chair. "Fine. But I'm not leaving without seeing her. And one of you should tell my dad that she's awake." One of the aides darts away in search, and Ben finds himself ushered into the room.

Sue looks very small amidst all the medical equipment. Her hair looks different. Ben realizes it’s started to grow out again.

"You're Ben?" He nods. "Good." 

"You know that Johnny's outside, right? And Dr. Storm- your  _ dad- _ " 

"I know. I needed to talk to you first." 

" _ What _ ?" Ben can't suppress his disbelief. This is what it takes for Sue to want to see him?

Her eyes drift away for a moment before refocusing. "There has to be someone on the outside." 

"I don't understand you." 

"You don't have to. Just listen to me." Sue shudders. "There's going to be another mission. I don't know when. But when it happens, Johnny's going to try and take my place. You can't let him."

"What are you talking-" 

" _ Listen to me _ ," she hisses, panicky. "He can't go on the next mission. We made a deal. He can't-" Sue lurches forward, heedless, grabbing for him with her uninjured arm. "You have to stop him. Ben.  _ You have to stop him _ -" 

Ben's first instinct is to pull away, but he remembers Sue's injuries, looks at the wildness taking over her face, and he stays still. "What do you mean, you made a deal?" 

"I said I'd do it." The words spill out. "I said I'd do it, I said I'd go on every mission, do anything they wanted me to do, as long as Johnny wasn't part of it. And they kept up their end of the bargain but I can't keep mine if I'm like this. So if he  _ asks _ to go-"

"They'll take him." Ben sees the precision of it now – Sue's arrangement means that Johnny will never be asked or forced to take part in a mission. But if Sue's incapacitated, and Johnny  _ volunteers- _

"Johnny's not going to listen to me." Sue's grip on Ben's arm tightens like a vise. "But he's been through enough already. I did this to keep him safe, even if he doesn't understand..." 

The room is suddenly very cold. "Doesn't understand what?" 

"Johnny wants to go into the field, but he doesn't – he wants it because he doesn't know what it's really like. He'd get there and it would  _ hurt _ him and I won't let him be hurt. It's not worth it, whatever he's trying to prove-"

"Trying to- He thinks you  _ blame _ him!" He doesn't mean for it to come out as a shout, but it does, and all the blood drains from Sue's face. Ben presses on before he has a chance to regret it. "Johnny thinks that you blame him for the accident. He already blames himself for Victor and Reed and he thinks you do, too, and that's why you don't talk to him anymore. He knows exactly what he's getting into – he wants to take your place because he thinks it's what he  _ deserves _ ." 

Sue lets go, after that. She huddles into herself like a child. "God," she breathes. "God. He thought-" 

"He  _ thinks _ ," Ben corrects. "Johnny wants to protect you. Just as much as you want to protect him. And both of you are trying to do it on your own, which means your dad-" Sue flinches. "-it means he doesn't understand either of you."

Silently, Sue uncurls herself, favoring her injured arm. "All of this, this isn't...This was supposed to be the right thing to do." She stares into her hands, and only then does Ben notice the old scars creeping over her palms. "What am I supposed to tell them now?" 

"Tell them what you told me." Sue looks up with a start. "Johnny and your father, they care about you. That doesn't mean they'll understand you right away. But it does mean that they'll try." 

"I have to see them." Sue says it more to herself than to Ben, but he moves for the door regardless. 

"Wait-" He turns. "I – thank you, Ben. Thank you." Ben just nods again in answer. He doesn't know what else to say. But Sue's eyes are a little brighter now, and it makes him think that what he did say might've been enough.

 

-

 

What happens after, Ben can only guess. He figures it's not his business. But a few days later, Dr. Storm pulls him aside in the lab, and Ben becomes a part of said business anyway. 

"Sue told me what you said to her." 

Ben opens his mouth to answer, ready to brush it off, but the doctor's relentless. "You brought my children back to me. Both of them." 

Words catch in his throat. "It wasn't- I mean, I didn't..." Ben can't think of a way to say “It wasn't me” without sounding terrible. Because it wasn't, really, it was all already there, it's just that he'd been in a place to put the whole story together, and maybe he understood it – both sides of it – a little bit too much. 

Ben doesn't say any of that out loud. In the end, Dr. Storm just claps him on the shoulder. "I think you'll find that you are more than you think you are." 

With that, they return to their work, lapsing back into their usual comfortable silence, and the second quantum gate inches closer to the finish line.

 

-

 

Dr. Allan comes by the lab routinely, perpetually irritable and anxious for results. The next time he shows up, Ben seizes his opportunity. 

"When the gate's finished, we'll need the Storms on hand to advise." 

Dr. Allan's jaw tightens. "We're already operating at reduced capacity because of Sue's injuries. Even putting Johnny in the field wouldn't make up for that deficit, and you expect me to have both of them pulled out? Our military funding-" 

"-it won't mean anything if the launch goes wrong." An ugliness flashes into the other man's expression at Ben's interruption, and he hurries on. "The Storms are the only people who have direct experience with Planet Zero. Johnny's physically been there, and Sue was instrumental in bringing him back to Earth afterwards. If you want to figure out what's on the other side of that gate, and how it works, they're the fastest way to find out. We need them here. Sir," he finishes.

For a moment, Dr. Allan mulls it over. "Fine," he answers. "I'll see what I can do. Get back to work – we were at this same stage over a year ago. We can't afford any more failures." 

With that, he takes his leave. Ben bites his tongue almost hard enough to draw blood, but he still can't stop his hands from curling into fists. 

_ I'll finish the gate, _ he thinks.  _ But I'm sure as hell not doing it for you. _

 

-

 

A team comes together, and the first formal exploration of Planet Zero begins without a hitch. Ben, the three Storms, and a fair amount of Area 57's personnel watch the screens from the other side, shielded away from the gate itself. Dr. Allan directs the affair through the control center. This time around, each environment suit has its own line of communication back to Earth, allowing for a more flexible dialogue than before. 

The video feed comes online. When they see the planet’s landscape for the first time, Johnny seems momentarily perturbed. "It's nothing," he says, when Sue asks. "It just...it looks different, now. That's all." 

Onscreen, the scientists go about their business, making occasional comments. Ben's more absorbed by the background, studying the place Reed devoted his whole life to finding. Planet Zero is barren and dark, even accounting for the distortion brought on by the cameras, and Ben can't help but think it wasn't worth it. And then he feels sick, like he's betrayed something, because Reed clearly thought it was. 

It's the cemetery all over again, that sense of something being missing, that this should mean more to him than it does. Ben almost spirals back into that reverie when an uproar shakes him out of his head, and he refocuses on the screens just in time to see a second geyser erupt, sickeningly green, forcing the nearest scientist to bolt away. 

Johnny's shouting, saying that they need to get out of there, that it's the same thing that happened before. Dr. Allan barks orders over him, and the exploration team sprints back in the direction of the shuttle, piling inside, before all of them are summoned home again. Only Sue stays quiet, her eyes fixed on the screens, watching the planet shudder itself back into stillness. 

The returned scientists are understandably panicked, but unhurt save the shock. Several of the deployed cameras are dead, the few video feeds remaining showing the landscape at rest, as if it had never been disturbed at all. Sue looks at Planet Zero for a long time, even after the overall scene has dispersed. Eventually, Ben asks her what she's looking for. 

"I'm not sure yet," she says, her eyes pensive. "I just know that it's  _ there _ ."

 

-

 

The second expedition takes place after several days of round-the-clock observation where nothing of consequence occurs on Planet Zero. Once it's deemed safe to return, the shuttle fills with a new, more cautious crew. All of them are careful to avoid areas where the planet's green energy is especially prominent, after Johnny had confirmed that those places were the most potentially dangerous. As before, they attend to their work quietly, inspecting the surviving cameras and setting up replacements when needed. 

And, as before, something goes awry and the explorers are sent scurrying back to the shuttle. The eruptions are more violent this time, throwing up large chunks of debris as well as energy, and one scientist is struck with a rock and knocked briefly to the ground before scrambling to his feet. Again, no one is significantly injured, a handful of the cameras are destroyed, and the planet returns to its prior calmness shortly after. 

In the aftermath, Sue requests access to the exploration team's footage, from the scientists' helmcams as well as from the other cameras. Days later, she emerges with an announcement. "This isn't a random natural event," Sue tells them. "It's happening in response to us, and it's being directed somehow." She pulls up the diagram she's reconstructed, a rough map of the gate's immediate surroundings with the eruption points indicated. "Whatever's causing the geysers only reacts once people stray a certain distance away from the quantum gate's drop zone. After that, it moves to drive the explorers back towards the shuttle. Back to Earth." 

"And once we're gone, the job's done, so it stops," Johnny concludes. 

"Exactly."

Ben studies the diagram. "So you're saying there's something out there, causing this?" 

"That's what I'm trying to find out. It could still be some kind of defense mechanism, even if it's this elaborate. But if there really is life on Planet Zero – potentially intelligent life, especially – that changes everything." 

"Maybe we're not exploring, after all," Johnny says. "Maybe we're invading." 

"History suggests a certain overlap between the two." Dr. Storm interjects for the first time. "But if we can prove Sue's theory, one way or another, we might avoid repeating it." His brow furrows in consideration. "To think that something could survive in such desolation...the repercussions are staggering." 

"What do we do?" Ben asks. 

"We try to find the answer," Dr. Storm says. "And we proceed with as much caution as we can."

 

-

 

Yet again, Planet Zero falls under watch. Over the next few weeks, Sue's theory of the eruptions being a reaction becomes more and more plausible. But despite Sue and Dr. Storm's warnings, Dr. Allan goes ahead in assembling a third exploration party. 

There's a definite somber atmosphere as the explorers fan out. It feels like the whole world is holding its breath. Johnny's especially restless, fiddling with the goggles in his hands, but he keeps his eyes fixed on the screens, waiting for the inevitable. 

"Control?" The scientist's voice flickers from the speakers, distorted but noticeably unsure. "There's...there's some kind of disturbance on the horizon." 

Dr. Allan's eyes narrow. "What do you mean by "disturbance"?" 

"It's still too far away for our sensors to get a read on it. But it's on the move." 

"Keep an eye on it," Dr. Allan commands. "If there's really something at work out here, we're finding out what it is." 

Once more, the scientists go through the motions of setting up equipment, but soon they all fall still as a cloud grows on the horizon. No, not a cloud. A storm. It hangs near the ground, swelling upward, a haze of dust enough to blot out all the world behind it – and it's picking up speed, rushing closer and closer. Those explorers that aren't wholly frozen in watching have started to edge back towards the shuttle. On the other side, Ben becomes one onlooker in a sea as the gate room's humming morphs from anticipation into honest fear. 

The line of communication reopens. "Should we-" 

And then the storm's upon them as dust overtakes the cameras and the screens go uniformly blank, throwing both sides of the gate into a panic. The wind  _ roars _ at them, tearing up equipment and loose earth alike as it sweeps over the drop site. The explorers stumble wildly away, fleeing the havoc that confronts them, and it looks for a moment like they're all going to make it. But one of the stragglers falls and is devoured, vanishing into the cloud with a shriek, and all of them – those on Earth, and those on Planet Zero – all they can do is watch it happen. The shuttle fills with shouting as the remaining scientists keep calling out their missing companion’'s name. Ben's stomach roils. 

Dr. Allan's voice cuts through the present mayhem. "Abort the mission." 

"Control!" One of the scientists shouts back, panic thick in his voice. "Lissette- Dr. Orvola's still-" 

"Abort the mission! Prepare for launch immediately!" 

" _ No _ !" The sound rips itself out of Johnny's throat. "You can't leave her out there!" 

"If we don't call the gate back now, we won't just lose one, we'll lose all of them!" 

A new scream from the storm, then, and Dr. Orvola is cast out, thrown bodily through the air. She lands with a heavy thud just in front of the gate, and the other scientists haul her inside before the shuttle doors close. 

Back on Earth the scientists clamber out, shellshocked and caked with the planet's dust. Two of them support their fallen member, helping her down the steps.

"There was a man," Dr. Orvola insists, once her helmet's pried off. "A man at the heart of the storm, I  _ saw _ him-" Both Sue and Johnny move to follow her, but the medical staff sweep her away before they can. 

Only later do her words really sink in for Ben –  _ a man at the heart of the storm _ – and against his better instincts, his heart jolts in his chest. 

 

-

 

Dr. Orvola's helmcam footage starts out as normal, with a view of the shuttle's interior. Then, the shift takes place, and she climbs out to face Planet Zero's landscape instead. She sets up her own share of the equipment, hands working carefully, and then her attention is drawn to what's brewing in the distance. Once or twice she glances towards another of her companions, likely conversing with them, but without the corresponding audio, their dialogue remains unknown. 

When the storm swells up before her, Dr. Orvola is at first very still. It strikes and she's blinded, the dust drowning out out everything around her. She runs, her video feed blurring into incoherence, before it violently snaps back into clarity when she falls. Disoriented, she struggles to brace herself up on her hands, groping about for something she can use for leverage against the howling wind, but there's nothing, nothing at all- 

-and a figure emerges from the heart of the storm. Another scientist, clad in the same familiar environment suit, but the lines of it are wrong, the colors, too, and when Dr. Orvola cranes her head up to face it, the figure wears no helmet. Instead, the newcomer's face is obscured, shrouded save two points of light. Then the lights  _ blink _ , and the figure raises an arm, suitless,  _ fleshless _ , and the helmcam feed panics once more as Dr. Orvola is hurled through the air and out of the storm. When she hits the ground again, the camera is damaged on impact, and the rest of the footage is more static than anything else. 

When the footage ends, the room erupts into loudness. Ben doesn't join it. Instead, his eyes dart from Storm to Storm, three different faces registering shades of the same horror, and distantly he wonders if he looks the same. His thoughts skip like a broken record, an endless loop of  _ if one of them survived- if one of them survived- _ as his pulse pounds in his ears. 

Outside them, the higher-ups have named the figure "Subject Zero." But across the room, Sue's mouth shapes "Victor" once again, and her hands tighten on the back of the chair before her, white-knuckled, like she thinks she'll fall apart if she lets go.

 

-

 

The fourth time the quantum gate is activated, there are no humans within it. This time, when the doors open, more than a dozen camera-equipped drones scuttle out, and the shuttle itself is commanded back to Earth before it attracts unwanted attention. 

Now, there is a whole wall of screens, each one depicting the planet's barren landscape from a different angle. Dr. Allan stands triumphantly before it, announcing the new plans for the surveillance of Planet Zero and its sole present inhabitant.

"The drones will map Subject Zero's movements and give us the information we need on how to combat its abilities. We'll map out the enemy's territory until we know the terrain just as well as it does."

Ben wonders, briefly, at Dr. Allan's near-excitement, at how quickly the terminology has changed from discovery to war, but the doctor shows no signs of slowing down.

"Once we've gathered enough data and have a better idea of what it is we're up against, we can move towards constructing a plan for neutralization, and- what the  _ hell _ is that."

Because a flicker of motion just interrupted the stillness of the screens, and they all look up in time to see something dart across the landscape and out of sight again. It's gone in an instant, like it was never there in the first place, but too many people saw it to write it off as an illusion. One of Allan's underlings pulls the footage up on a different monitor, skipping back and freezing the image like a fly in amber.

It's not Subject Zero. The shape is all wrong, and it moves like nothing Ben's ever seen. His breath halts in his throat.

_ If one of them survived, why not the other? _

The world fades to white noise around him. Ben swallows hard and  _ looks _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW. I KNOW. I'M HAVING A HARD TIME TOO
> 
> (would you believe that according to my original outline we're still only in part 2)
> 
> BUT UH YEAH SHIT'S KICKING OFF, VICTOR'S BACK (I MEAN. THAT'S CLEARLY VICTOR. WE ALL KNOW THAT) AS IS SOMEONE ELSE, THIS CLIFFHANGER WAS NOT MEANT TO BE THIS CRUEL BUT THIS PART IS WAY OVERLONG AS IS, I HAD TO CUT IT SOMEWHERE. THIS FIC IS MORE OUT OF CONTROL THAN I EVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AND I'M SORRY
> 
> our guest star in this chapter is not in fact an OC, (dr.) lissette orvola was imported direct from the comics because I needed a named scientist and her design is real cute, honestly tho I really like her now
> 
> I just. I just have to stop looking at this part for a while. I have read sue's scene so many times and I get less happy with it every go round so I hope it's just the oversaturation getting to me and not the "this is actually terrible, kyakuuu." I'm just going to detox with my bad decisions OT3 WIP for a while and try to calm down about exit wounds because LOOK AT WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH HERE
> 
> this author's note is increasingly incoherent but: chapter title sourced from the idiom, those of you who follow me on tumblr know this AU has been revealed to be the orpheus AU (those of you who don't, well, now you know), and hopefully part 4 (PART _4_ ) will arrive here in a more timely fashion. please don't cry, everyone. it's going to be alright
> 
> next time: no one is as dead as we expected them to be, and ben arrives at a crossroads once again.


	4. dead men walking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben asks Sue about it, once, when they're looking at the latest Planet Zero data together. "What if Reed's not in there anymore?"
> 
> \-- 
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's like 2 AM
> 
> I was supposed to finish this tomorrow or maybe the day after
> 
> that didn't happen
> 
> will edit later 
> 
> go read my hard work

Over the next several days, the techs work overtime, combing through every scrap of footage the drones are able to collect. 

By the end of the week, the situation is clear. There are two entities at large on the other side of the gate, and the Subject Zero designation splits in half. Zero-Alpha is the original, a strange dark figure that warps the planet's crust beneath its feet as it travels, hostile and elusive in equal measure. Every now and then a camera catches sight of it, but the view never lasts for long. Zero-Alpha has a habit of destroying any drones that get too close. Under Dr. Allan's direction, the techs by and large refer to it as "Doom," but the Storms remain the holdouts. To them, Zero-Alpha is still "Victor." Still "him" instead of "it." 

Zero-Beta is something else altogether. It's tall, inhumanly so, with limbs too long for its body, and its featureless face is lit up by eyes like two beacons. Zero-Beta appears only rarely, moving with a kind of ungainly grace, its proportions warping as needed for it to catapult and clamber over the jagged landscape. The drones have a lot of trouble keeping up. No one remembers who started calling Zero-Beta "Shambler," but Ben looks at the being this planet made out of his best friend and can't bring himself to name it anything, not just yet. 

Losing Reed had been hard enough already. When it comes to finding him again, Ben doesn't even know where to begin.

"Why doesn't he come  _ back _ ?" Johnny asks, voicing the question at the back of all their minds. "He has to know we're here, that there's a way to get off Planet Zero – Victor's one thing, but Reed – Reed wouldn't have wanted to  _ stay _ there. Would he?" 

Ben takes too long to mutely shake his head in response. Reed would've chosen Earth – Ben believes that, or at least wants to believe it. But Ben thinks back to what it was like, growing up, him and Reed and the teleporter between them. Ben remembers that underlying wistfulness in Reed's eyes when his best friend had talked about the idea of  _ somewhere else _ , and with a jolt Ben realizes that he's not sure. That there could've been parts of Reed that even he wasn't able to see. 

_ He would've brought me with him, if he left,  _ Ben thinks, like it's a reassurance. Then,  _ he tried to.  _ Then, _ but he left anyway.  _

This is where it hurts the most: Ben looks at Shambler on the screens and can't see Reed. He goes through the collected footage over and over again, searching for any trace of the Reed he's got woven into his head. Nothing comes back. Ben keeps looking anyway.

 

-

 

Ben asks Sue about it, once, when they're looking at the latest Planet Zero data together. "What if Reed's not in there anymore?" 

Eyebrow raised, Sue just fixes him with an appraising look until he goes on. 

"It's been a year," Ben starts. "More than a year, and he's spent the whole time out there, alone, without – without anyone. That place, it already changed him into  _ that _ , on the outside. What else did it do to him? If it-" His voice fractures. "If it did something to  _ hurt _ him, and he's not-" 

Then Sue's out of her chair, standing beside him, rubbing circles into his back until his mind slows down and he can breathe again. 

"I can't lose him again," Ben admits, his voice low. "I can't. If I start believing that there's a chance he's still alive, that he's still  _ him _ , and then I'm wrong...I barely made it through the first time." 

"But you made it." He looks up at Sue, and she goes on. "You didn't think you would, but you did. It counts either way." One last touch, and she returns to her seat. "And this time, if worst comes to worst, you won't have to do it on your own." Sue contemplates for a moment. "But I don't think you should give up on him just yet." 

Sue pulls up a new image of Shambler midleap and business between them continues as if it never stopped. Ben's grateful for that. He's never been much for this kind of talk. 

But then, it's different with Sue. Not today, but someday – when it's less foreign to him – Ben thinks he could get used to it, with her.

 

-

 

Ben's going through the Shambler evidence on his own when Dr. Allan finds him. He braces himself. Dr. Allan's never sought him out for a positive reason before now, and Ben doubts he's about to start. 

Still, the man looks about as happy as Ben's ever seen him, and his next words provide Ben with the reason why. 

"Your work here is done. Congratulations," Dr. Allan says. "You're going home." 

That's all it takes for Ben to shake himself back into wakefulness. "What about the gate?"  _ What about Reed?  _

"You were contracted to help us rebuild the gate. Now that it's completed and functional, our technicians can take it from here." Dr. Allan almost smiles. "We're very thankful for your assistance." 

He keeps talking, going on about non-disclosure agreements and final exit preparations, but Ben's stopped hearing him altogether. His mind is a flurry. 

They're going to send him away. Ship him back to Oyster Bay and all but pretend nothing ever happened. He'll sign all their forms and go home unable to say anything about what happened here, and he'll have nothing. Nothing but the knowledge that he gave Reed's dream to people who just want to  _ use _ it – and that Reed's alive, and there's nothing Ben can do about it. 

"Don't worry," Dr. Allan says, unconcerned. "Everything will be over with within the next few days." 

That much is right. Against all odds, Reed's still out there somewhere. Ben knows what he has to do.

 

-

 

Ben doesn't ask Dr. Storm for help. It's not that he doesn't respect the man or that he thinks Dr. Storm will be against what he's trying to do – but he can't afford to be slowed down or stopped. Not when he's this close. He's got maybe 48 hours in which to pull this off, and that means he needs recklessness. 

So Dr. Storm's assistance is off the table. The younger Storms, however, are a different story. 

Ben expects at least a token resistance to his plan –  _ I'm being shipped out in a few days, I need you to help me steal the quantum gate so I can go after Reed myself, are you with me? _ is about as far away from  _ safe _ or  _ sensible _ or  _ logical _ as a plan can get – but Sue and Johnny just exchange a look with each other before signing on. 

The first roadblock: getting around the security. During the day, Area 57 is always busy, leaving no chance for them to even get near the quantum gate, let alone activate it. But at night, inactive sections of the base are shut down, and the Storms themselves are confined to their cells. Ben's not under their curfew, but his meager level of clearance won't be enough to let them out or unlock anything else. 

"The labcoats said my room's supposed to be 100% fireproof," Johnny offers. "Pretty sure they're wrong, so...that's on the table." 

Sue's brow furrows. "Breaking out isn't the problem. As soon as we're loose, this place will be on high alert. We'd never make it to the gate. If we had more time...no, we need something simple, something that wouldn't be expected..." 

She trails off, eyes pausing on something across the room. Ben and Johnny follow her gaze, and the three of them reach at the solution at the same time. 

"There's  _ no way _ ," Johnny says automatically. 

Ben follows suit. "It can't be that easy." 

Sue doesn't say anything. A rare smile breaks across her face. 

Now, Ben's standing in the hall at two AM, fully dressed and poised before his target. Area 57 is as close to sound asleep as it can get. For better or worse, Ben's about to wake it up again. He hesitates, then, he steels himself. 

_ Here goes _ , Ben thinks, and he pulls the fire alarm.

 

-

 

The alarm blares in Ben's ears the whole time as he sprints to the gate room. Their hunch was right – emergency situations put no stock in security clearance, and all the doors he bolts through are already unlocked. But the rest of the base is facing the same alarm, and eventually someone's going to recognize the distraction for what it is. Ben runs faster. 

By the time he reaches the lab, Sue and Johnny are already there. Johnny helps Ben struggle into a spare environment suit while Sue goes to work on the gate controls. Outside, new sounds begin to mingle with the scream of the fire alarm. They won't be alone for long. 

Sue's noticed it too. "Johnny, can you take over?" 

"Sure, but what are you-" Then there's a rush in the air as Sue's force field ripples out and away, unpeeling to wrap around the whole of the gate room's interior. It stretches from ceiling to floor, creating a perfect barrier between them and the rest of the world. And Sue doesn't even break a sweat. 

" _ Shit _ ," Johnny breathes, admiring her handiwork. "How long can you keep that up?" 

"As long as we need." Sue glances back at them. "Ben, get into the shuttle. Once you're on the other side, Johnny can direct you from here.  _ Go _ ," she insists. 

Ben manages a nod. He rushes up the steps at the foot of the quantum gate and climbs inside. There's more room inside than he expected, but then, the gate is supposed to house more than one passenger. By the time it's coming home again, Ben hopes it'll be carrying two. 

Johnny's voice sounds through the communicator. "Houston, prepare for liftoff." 

" _ You're _ Houston," Ben can't help but answer. He hears Johnny laughing, and around him the quantum gate hums to life. It's quieter from the inside. 

Over a year ago, Reed had been in his place, charging out into the unknown. The blue light shining through the shuttle's window intensifies to blinding. Ben screws his eyes shut tight. 

_ Don't blow up.  _

The fire alarm stops just before he's gone.

 

-

 

Years ago, when the quantum gate was still "the teleporter," Reed managed to collect a few handfuls of soil as a byproduct of their one-way tests. After a solid hour of deliberation at the store, they bought a packet of seeds. Sunflowers. Ben scrounged up a flowerpot and the experiment began in earnest. Nothing ever grew. At the time, Ben chalked the failure up to too much watering – Reed had been somewhat overzealous in monitoring the situation – but now, looking at the place that soil came from, Ben knows it never would've worked. The craggy landscape of Planet Zero yawns out before him, still and dead. No, not dead. Calling something dead implies that it was once alive. 

Ben stands in front of the quantum gate, and he wonders if there's a pile of toy cars out in the desolation somewhere. If he and Reed left any kind of mark on this place the way it had on them. 

"Ben." He jumps as Johnny's voice cuts through the silence. "Can you hear me?" 

Ben nods, then remembers and speaks up. "Yeah, I'm here." 

"Your helmcam feed's online. Ready to get moving?" 

"Something like that. Where am I going?" 

"Sue compiled a map of the subject movements. All the drone activity for Reed has been farther from the drop site. Can you look around? There's this one weird rock formation..." 

Ben scans the horizon, squinting against the low light, until his eyes land on a particular mountain and Johnny interrupts. "That's the one. Head towards that." 

So Ben starts walking, careful to avoid the cracks in the earth where some green still leaks through, until he stops short at the edge of a cliff. A partially collapsed cliff, to be fair, but it's still sheer enough that Ben doesn't favor his odds on the descent. 

"Johnny?" Ben looks down farther, giving Johnny a better view through the camera. "Did you know about this?" 

Silence from the other side. Ben asks again. "Should I try climbing down?" 

"No!" Johnny says, too quick. "I mean, no, don't do that, it's...just don't. We'll find another way around." 

Ben spends a few minutes picking his way along the edge of the cliff before Johnny's voice returns. 

"Ben?" 

He pauses. "Yeah?" 

"Listen, whatever happens out there...whatever you find...come back when it's over, alright? Just – come back." 

Months ago, before Area 57, before the Storms, Ben knows it would've been harder for him to reply in the affirmative. This time, it's different. 

"I'm coming back," Ben answers. It feels like a promise, saying it out loud, and he hopes that Reed can feel it too, wherever he is –  _ I'm coming back. We're coming back. We're going home. _

 

-

 

After a while, the silence starts to get to Ben. Planet Zero barely moves and never speaks, and Ben finds himself uncomfortably aware of his own loudness in comparison. The sensation creeps under his skin. Ben hears his footsteps and his breathing and he feels like an intruder, unsettled and wrong.  _ And Reed survived out here for over a year...  _

"Johnny." The name slips out unbidden. 

There's a brief shuffling on the other side of the line before Johnny responds. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm fine, it's just-" Ben doesn't want to feel this vulnerable. "It's quiet. Could you talk to me?" 

"Sure," Johnny replies, easy as that. "Did you have a topic in mind, or...?" 

"I don't know." Ben keeps going. Even just this is better than nothing. "Anything. What's happening back in the gate room?" 

"Well, we’ve got  a record turnout. I think the whole base showed up to see what was going on." The volume shifts – Johnny's changing positions, maybe, leaning in closer. "Allan's trying to get Sue to drop the field. She says she won't do it until she gets a promise that they won't just pull the gate back and leave you out there." 

A beat. "That was on the table?" 

"That was her example of a worst case scenario." Johnny's voice is artificially light. "Problem is, they're saying a lot of things, but ‘no, we definitely won’t do that’ hasn’t been one of them..." 

Johnny trails off just as there's a flicker of motion out the corner of Ben's eye. He whips around, heart pounding in his chest, only to see a lone drone wheeling itself over the uneven terrain. Once the burst of panic subsides, he's just thankful that he didn't scream. 

"Sorry," Johnny says, and only then does Ben recall that Johnny's seeing everything that he does. "I forgot about them, too. I'll keep an eye out from now on. Just keep moving. We're in Reed's territory now." 

"Roger that," Ben answers faintly, and moves on.

 

-

 

Johnny keeps talking in between giving directions, flicking from trivial to serious as it suits him. Ben doesn't say much back, but it helps a lot to have something else to concentrate on besides the overwhelming emptiness. 

Then Ben hears something else. Feels it more than he hears it, almost. Anywhere else, it'd have been imperceptible. But out here, when he's already this hyperaware, it's a clamor. 

He glances around. No drones in sight. The feeling doesn't go away. 

"Ben?" Johnny's verbal train of thought shudders to a halt. "Why are you stopped?" 

Ben turns to look this time, his whole body tensing up. "There's something out here with me." 

"Is it Reed?" 

_ Nothing about Reed would ever feel like this.  _ "I don't think so. I can't see it, but I know- I'm not alone anymore, there's  _ something out here _ -" 

"Don't panic," Johnny says, panicking. "Don't panic, man, keep it together-" Ben breathes heavily underneath the oxygen mask, every sense straining. Then he stops breathing altogether. 

The ground beneath him screams. 

Earth surges up, clawing at him, swallowing his feet. Ben kicks free and tries to run, all sense of direction gone, but it's faster than he is, and soon enough he's caught again. It climbs him, wrapping up and around his legs until he can't even move to struggle. Ben tears at its advancement with his hands, hurling chunks of stone away from him, but then it moves to devour his hands, too, and he jerks away just before he's caught entirely. 

He can't make out what Johnny's shouting, but when he tries to answer, he can't say anything at all. 

"Unbelievable." A voice breaks in from behind him, dry and disused. Ben flinches, then tries to crane his head around to see its owner. 

The voice scoffs. "Don't bother.  _ I'll  _ come to  _ you. _ " 

The ground creaks, rippling like a wave. It carries the speaker in an arc, bringing him around to where Ben can see him properly. At first glance, the suit he wears is a lighter mirror of Ben's own. But the legs are ruined, tattered and charred, one up to the ankle, the other to the knee. The boots are wrong, too, Ben thinks, until he realizes they aren't boots at all. The speaker's feet and visible legs gleam dully gray, like skin and suit alike were flayed from them, and as he draws closer it's obvious that his right arm is the same, metallic and harsh. One more time, Ben tries and fails to pull himself free. 

The speaker – Subject Zero-Alpha, previously known as Victor von Doom – just looks at Ben, his green eyes burning with disdain beneath his hood, and sighs. 

"What's it going to take for you people to learn from your mistakes?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as with last time, the Shit Getting Real train has yet to stop. if anything, it's gotten faster. ben's gotten himself into a bit of a predicament now, hasn't he? see, this is what happens when you make reckless decisions like roping your pals into stealing a big piece of science in the dead of night. but it's for a good cause, right? maybe things will go a little better this time...
> 
> anyway. chapter title's a play off the idiom. once again I apologize for the cliffhanger. in my defense it wasn't actually that intentional. according to my original outlines, we've just barely edged into part 3...but hey! we broke the 10k wall! that's something, right
> 
> so the farther along I get into this fic, the more I'm like, dang, kyakuuu, you gotta go over this thing once it's all over and give it a good polish. for consistency's sake if nothing else. did past me know that I'd still be here in may 2016? probably she suspected but now it's happening for real
> 
> AND WE STILL HAVE TWO PARTS LEFT TO GO. HANG ON, EVERYBODY. THE WORLD IS CHANGING FAST
> 
> next time: ben talks to dead people, which isn't that weird. the dead people talk back, which kind of is.


	5. hades and eurydice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before, Shambler had been a fragment on a screen, inhuman, but in a vague and distant way. Not so now.
> 
> \--
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the usual spiel about editing and all that
> 
> also: if it's been as long for you as it's been for me, you might want to at least skim over the story up to this point before diving straight in. there's a lot happening here
> 
> (can you believe the last update was in may? may is like 500 years ago)

Back on Earth, Area 57 erupts into chaos. 

At least, that's what it sounds like to Ben. Sue's field must've fallen. Ben only hears her for a moment before she and Johnny are both drowned out. Every voice on the other side seems to have advice for dealing with his present situation, but Ben can't make out a word. He screws his eyes shut against the uproar, trying to concentrate. It's all he can do to keep his breathing even. 

If Ben's captor notices his present distress, he doesn't seem to care. Doom might not the  _ right _ name for who he's facing, but from Ben's current perspective, it seems apt enough. Sue had mapped Ben's route with the aim of avoiding Doom's territory, but escaping his notice altogether seems to have been too much to hope for. The earth grasping at his legs pulses like a living thing. 

It takes Ben some time to figure out that Doom's waiting for a response. Ben doesn't even know what was asked. He tries to answer anyway, but he barely gets a word out before Area 57 remembers that he's there and surges even louder. Ben picks out a particular voice cutting through the clamor – Dr. Allan – and winces. 

Doom says something else that Ben can’t hear. Then, he raises a hand, and Ben has just enough space to think  _ oh God please no _ before the ground doesn't move to crush him after all. Instead, there's an electronic  _ crunch _ from somewhere in the guts of Ben's helmet, and the voices from Earth go silent. Their absence is only a relief for a second. If Area 57 thinks that Doom killed him- 

"Would you stop  _ panicking _ ," Doom interrupts. "I only disabled your communications, if your techs are halfway competent they'll see your camera footage and realize you're still otherwise intact." He scoffs. "Honestly. Did they tell you  _ anything _ about the suit you're wearing, or did they just shove you in it and call it a day?" 

Well, Johnny had done the best he could with the time they were given. Doom plows on ahead. "But now that we don't have an audience..." He stalks closer, eyes blazing green beneath his makeshift hood. "My question stands. I  _ asked _ you where the rest of your friends are." 

"There's no one else here." When did his mouth get so dry? 

"Because that makes  _ perfect _ sense, doesn't it." Doom's hand goes up again – it's the metal one, Ben notices – and the earth shivers. "There's a fine line between self-sacrifice and stupidity. Take a wild guess at which heading you fall under." Stone creeps over Ben's legs to his waist. "You have one more chance to tell me where the other explorers are hiding. Don't expect me to believe that they only sent one of you." 

"No one sent me. I made the choice to come here on my own." 

"Really." Doom's condescension is starting to grate. "You  _ do _ understand the predicament you're in, yes?" 

Despite the terror growing in his throat, Ben bites back. "I  _ understand _ that if you wanted me dead, I'd already be dead. Right?" 

"I still have time to change my mind." After a moment of deliberation, Doom steps off his stony pedestal to inspect Ben more closely. Both of Doom's feet are metal, too, warped by Planet Zero's machinations. He moves like any other predator, cautious and dangerous, but maybe Ben can get through to him somehow. 

"So," Doom says. "What are you supposed to be, exactly? Not a scientist, that much is obvious – military, then? I knew it wouldn't be long before your kind became involved." 

Ben's beginning to think that Doom just likes the sound of his own voice. But then, how long has it been since Doom last had a chance to talk to someone? 

"Listen," Ben tries. "I'm not here for you-" 

"-you're here for my planet, in practice it amounts to the same thing-" 

"-I'm looking for  _ Reed _ !" Doom stops short, and Ben takes advantage of his silence to keep going. 

"I'm looking for Reed," he repeats, lower this time. "I'm looking for my friend." 

"Your  _ friend _ -" Doom makes a disgusted sound. "You're his Ben. Of  _ course _ you're his Ben." He yanks his hood back from his face to get a better look through Ben's faceplate. Doom's glowing eyes are wary, and both his hair and beard are overgrown. 

Doom seems less of a monster with his face laid bare like this, but Ben refuses to drop his guard just yet. "You know about me?" 

"With the way Reed talks? It'd be more difficult to be ignorant." Doom contemplates him for a second. "So. You're looking for Reed. How... _ gallant _ of you." 

Despite his current state of helplessness, Ben bristles at Doom's tone. "What are you trying to say?" 

"Nothing in particular." Even sans hood, Doom's expression is unreadable. "Only that you've come a long way just to visit a grave." 

"Fuck you." The words have no real venom. Doom's only giving voice to the fears Ben already has. "Is that your way of telling me he's dead?" 

Doom opens his mouth, but Ben isn't finished. "And if you're just going to say something like "perhaps" or "that depends on your point of view," skip it. Either tell me what you mean or just- crush me to death, already. Get it over with." He takes a breath and exhales, letting the anger bleed out of him. "I told you, I don't care about you or your planet. I just want to bring Reed home." 

" _ Home _ ." Doom's momentary shock ends and he laughs, bitter and cutting. "And what do you think home will do to him when they find out what he can do? What he is?" 

"You're talking like he isn't human anymore." 

"He's not. Neither of us are." The earth enveloping Ben tenses and untenses as Doom paces back and forth. "This place remade Reed, the same way it remade me – and the people you work for will lock him away and tear him apart. Until there's nothing left for them to take." 

"They wouldn't do that-" 

"And what makes you think they won't?" 

"Because  _ I won't let them _ !" Ben waits for Doom's answering mockery, but nothing comes, and he's left to catch his breath and regroup instead. 

"I promised him." His eyes sting, but he won't break here, not now, not where Doom can see. "I promised I would have his back."  _ I thought he didn't need me anymore. I thought I was supposed to let him go.  _

"You can't protect him from everything." It's not a taunt this time, only a statement of fact. 

"I know." Ben closes his eyes. "That's not going to stop me from trying." 

Doom had said something before:  _ it'd be more difficult to be ignorant _ . Why had all of Reed's friends known about him from the start? 

Ben had been so afraid of Reed leaving him behind. He hadn't even thought about the repercussions of otherwise. 

_ "You're the one who got us here, you know?"  _

But Reed had remembered him. 

_ "I just...I really miss you, Ben."  _

Reed had  _ cared _ about him. 

_ "I'll talk to you later, alright?" _

All this time, Ben's kept trying to forget Reed somehow. But he can't, and more importantly, he doesn't want to, and if Doom thinks he can keep standing in Ben's way- 

The earth around him cracks and falls apart. Before Ben can process his new freedom, Doom moves again, and a path cracks itself out in the dirt, rippling towards a cluster of distant crags. 

"If you're this set on being the type of idiot that runs off madly into the treacherous unknown," Doom says stiffly, "you should at least aim yourself in the right direction." 

Ben kicks his way loose from the remaining rubble, forcing life back into his legs. "...Why are you doing this?" 

"Believe me, it's against my better judgment." Doom tugs his hood back on in one quick motion, as if he'd only just remembered taking it off. "Let's say I'm repaying a debt, and leave it at that. Now go." 

"You don't have to stay here." The words halt Doom for an instant, and Ben hurries ahead. "You could come back to Earth. There's people..." He remembers the Storms, how they'd looked, when confronted with evidence that Doom – that Victor – might not be lost to them after all. "There's people waiting for you." 

The hood casts a long shadow over Doom's face, but there's a silence where Ben thinks he might be hesitating, all the same. 

"...My place is here," Doom finally answers. "On that note, I have a message for your superiors: no more tourists. Send anyone else through that gate, and I'll accept it as a declaration of war." 

"That won't stop them." 

"It won't," Doom concedes. "But know that I'll do what has to be done, if it means keeping this place out of their hands. And as for you – be on your guard. I'm far from the worst thing standing in your way." 

"You'll find Reed there." He gestures towards the crags again. "Just know he isn't much for talking anymore." 

Part of Ben wants desperately to interrogate Doom about what that means. But there's a road to Reed in front of him, and he's tired of playing games. So he starts walking instead, until Doom's dwindled to a shape in the distance. Until Ben looks back and sees nothing at all.

 

-

 

It takes some time for Ben to make it to the crags. He misses Johnny's navigation in his ear, but the path in front of him is clear and straight, even as the terrain around it grows more perilous. It's as if the planet's crust fell in upon itself. 

Ben reaches the end of the road, and only then does it occur to him that he doesn't have a plan beyond this point. If he called out, in the middle of this isolation, would Shambler hear him? Would  _ Reed _ ? 

_ You've come a long way just to visit a grave.  _ But it's different this time, from visiting the cemetery back home, from rebuilding the quantum gate in the heart of Area 57, from every time before when Ben was running towards the aftermath of Reed, because this time, at least, he has a lead. Shambler is real, if nothing else – Shambler is here, somewhere in the wastes, and Ben has a chance. 

Then the entity in question vaults into view, and Ben's heart stops beating in his chest. 

Before, Shambler had been a fragment on a screen, inhuman, but in a vague and distant way. Not so now. Subject Zero-Beta moves like a kite in a hurricane, catapulting over the crags, graceless, but practiced, and  _ fast- _

"Wait!" At Ben's shout, Shambler falters midleap, twisting in the air to catch himself on the side of a cliff. He scrabbles at the rocky surface, finding imperceptible crevices to latch onto. Once he's secured, his neck cranes itself in an impossible arch, and those green beacon eyes sweep across the barren landscape to halt on the intruder in his domain. Ben just hopes against hope that Shambler won't turn and run at the sight of him. 

Instead, Shambler scuttles down the cliff face, advancing at a more measured pace. The closer he gets, the more his strangeness becomes apparent. Shambler's tall, ten feet easy, his arms long enough to almost brush the ground. Green light races over his skin like veins, brightest in his malformed hands and feet but present everywhere, even as the markings vanish beneath the rags of his makeshift clothing. With a sick twist of his gut, Ben recognizes the remains of an environment suit. The metal collar gleams from where it's fixed around Shambler's distorted neck, and the shredded fabric hangs down like a tunic. Still, Shambler's face is wholly alien, the features flattened and blank. It's a relief, really. Ben doesn't know what he would've done, if he'd seen a ruined but recognizable version of Reed instead. 

Still Shambler shuffles nearer. The motion doesn't suit him. His body seems ill-equipped for speeds other than "impossibly fast." Finally, he halts at a fair distance away, pulls himself into a resting crouch, and blinks. 

Ben takes an impulsive step forward. It's a bad move. Shambler half-rears and skips back a few steps, poising for flight, and Ben freezes in place. 

"Don't," he says, struggling to keep his voice even, knowing that a shout might only frighten Shambler more. "Please." Ben grasps for something else to say, but comes up empty. "Please, don't run away." 

Doom had been all too happy to speak, earlier. Shambler doesn't say a word. Ben looks at Shambler's altered mouth, at lips pulled taut over bared teeth.  _ He isn't much for talking anymore _ , Doom's voice echoes. Ben thinks about how hard it had been, for anyone to get Reed to  _ stop _ talking, before, but he forces the memory back down and tries again. "Can you...hear me?" 

Shambler tilts his head like he's contemplating, and maybe it means nothing, but the gesture is familiar enough to make Ben ache. 

"I'm sorry." Ben reckons it's as good a place to start as any, and either way, it's true. "I should've been there, and I wasn't" slips out, and at first he only means the phone calls, on that night, but then it changes into something bigger, something more. Like he hadn't known how to say it, back on Earth. 

"I thought you were happier without me." Suddenly, Doom breaking his communicator feels like a blessing in disguise. These words, at least, are just for Reed. "And I was scared, that if I went to see you, and you  _ saw _ me...I didn't want to be proven right." 

"I just didn't want you to leave me." This time, when the tears come, Ben doesn't fight them back. "I miss you so much, you know that? Every  _ day _ ." He closes his eyes. "I've spent this whole time missing you, and I thought the point of it was...I thought I was supposed to just forget, just move on, so it wouldn't hurt anymore and I wouldn't feel a thing." 

"But that's not how it works, is it? Because I can't-" He chokes, he stops, he pulls himself together. "I can't cut you out of me. I can't pretend that you didn't mean anything. I miss you – and I'm going to keep missing you – because you matter to me, Reed. Because you're the most important person I've ever met." 

"I don't want to lose you." Ben breathes in, long and slow, then out again. "Even if it hurts to remember, I don't want to lose you." His eyes burn. "Reed, I-"

Ben looks up and Shambler is there, looming before him. In his haze, Ben hadn't even noticed his approach, but this close, Shambler's impossible to ignore. While his mask of a face remains expressionless, his glowing eyes stay fixed on Ben.

For a moment they just watch each other. Then, in tentative silence, Shambler shifts his weight and stretches out a massive hand, his fingers halfway curled, as if to touch.

Part of Ben thinks it would be a good idea to turn and run. The rest of Ben concedes that he should probably listen to that part, even as he stands and waits for whatever Shambler plans to do.

The light emanating from Shambler's skin intensifies as he draws closer, but just as his tapered forefinger is about to tap against Ben's faceplate, he darts back as if burned. And although he's torn between retreat and reaching out, Ben stays exactly where he is.

But Shambler doesn't flee. Instead, he stares down at his withdrawn hand, curling in on himself, almost shrinking away. And then he  _ is _ shrinking away, warped limbs dwindling to vanish into the folds of his battered suit, the glow dying out of his eyes as his feet flatten back onto the ground, and Ben knows he must be dreaming, because  _ this can't be real _ .

It takes only a handful of seconds for Shambler to fold himself away, but it feels like a lifetime before Reed Richards takes a hesitant step forward. He walks like he's forgotten how to move on human feet, and light still traces over his skin, but his eyes are the same as they always were, peering out from under his overgrown hair. Reed looks impossibly  _ lost _ like this, swathed in the remains of his suit, fragile in a way Ben never imagined he could be.

Cautiously, Reed closes the distance between them. He doesn't reach out like before, just watches Ben, his mouth left ajar as he tries and fails and tries again to speak. Ultimately, he only manages one word.

" _ Ben? _ "

Ben can't speak. He can barely even breathe. But somehow, he nods, and the stillness between them shatters as Reed makes a strangled sound and throws himself forward into Ben's arms.

In the end, Ben still isn't sure whether he's dreaming or not. He just pulls Reed closer against him, and decides he doesn't care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [kyakuuu voice] so once you sweep all the rubber man jokes aside, reed's a plain old shapeshifter, right
> 
> [kyakuuu voice] and unless he's somehow maintaining the same mass no matter how far he stretches, you gotta assume he's a sizeshifter too
> 
> [kyakuuu voice] all I'm saying is, why waste time making reed punch stuff when you could make him into the All-Terrain Human he's clearly destined to be
> 
> now that we've gone over how I've been lowkey spoiling my own fic since day one: REED'S BACK, EVERYBODY. HOW DO YOU LIKE _THEM_ APPLES
> 
> anyway. yes, the total chapter count went up again, I know and I'm sorry. I finally did a formal plotted writeup for how the rest of this fic goes and that's how it has to happen. from here on out things are more of a wind down, but that's not to say that nothing else happens. they still have to make it out of the underworld, after all.
> 
> I really can't wait to do the director's cut, though. the farther I get from the early parts of this fic, the more they pain me to look upon. I'll feel a lot better once everything's been brought up to code.
> 
> next time: reed talks. reed Talks


	6. the aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time Ben's ever seen Reed cry. Already he never wants there to be a second time.
> 
> \--
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise, bitch
> 
> I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me
> 
> (this content is as raw as it gets. if you see any particularly awful mistakes please tell me so I can fix them while crying)

It's a long time before Ben can bring himself to do anything more than breathe. But soon enough, the world comes back, like blinking awake after a long sleep. The world comes back, and Reed is still there. 

He doesn't remember them collapsing to their knees, whether Reed dragged him down or he did Reed, or if they fell together. The environment suit keeps an unwelcome distance between them, but Reed crushes himself against Ben's shoulder anyway, close enough that Ben can feel him shaking.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Ben has no answer for that, so he strokes his gloved fingers across Reed's hair, wishing for sensation, wishing he could  _ touch _ Reed the way that they both need. He can still make out the remnants of light under Reed's skin, fainter than when he was Shambler, but present all the same. 

"It's really you?" Reed pulls back and peers at Ben through the bulk of the helmet, looking unsure all over again. "I'm not- I didn't- you're  _ real _ . Right?" 

Reed's crying. Ben doesn't think he's ever seen Reed cry before. Not like this. "I'm real, buddy." He shifts a hand to the side of Reed's face, smudging a tear away with his thumb. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere." 

"How'd you find me?" Reed swipes at his eyes in a bout of self-consciousness. "I mean, how are you- how did you get here?" 

"Same way you did. I took the gate." Reed looks at him, and Ben wants – Ben doesn't know what he wants, let alone how to get it, so he settles for grabbing Reed's hand again, bridging the gap between them."It's waiting for us, Reed. We can go home-" 

Reed's hand goes tense in his. For a horrible moment Ben thinks he's about to break free and run. "Ben..." 

"What?" He squeezes Reed's hand a little tighter, hoping the gesture will be enough to keep him here. "What's wrong?" 

"You saw me, Ben. Before, when I wasn't – myself. You know what I am now." 

"And?" 

Reed splutters for an instant, then tears himself loose, gesturing wildly. " _ And _ ? Ben,  _ look _ at me!" He recoils, refusing to meet Ben's gaze. "You don't understand, I – the moment I came here, I ruined everything! Including me!" He stops, then, like he's startled by the sound of his own voice. Against the quiet of Planet Zero, anything becomes too loud. 

"I can't fix this, Ben," Reed admits, soft and final. "There's no undoing what I've done. This place...it changed me." He scrubs at his eyes once more, muttering  _ stop _ to himself under his breath, like that's all it takes. 

This is the first time Ben's ever seen Reed cry. Already he never wants there to be a second time. "You know what I see when I look at you?" 

Reed's expression is all watery confusion. Ben takes it as encouragement to keep going. "I see someone that I thought I'd never see again. Someone who I've been chasing after for more than a year and a half."  _ Someone I love more than anyone else in the world.  _ "I look at you and I see my best friend. Next to that? Nothing else matters." 

Reed stares at him. "You're not – disgusted?" 

"Reed, you shorted out half the neighborhood on the first night we met." An involuntary grin breaks over Ben's face, pinned underneath his oxygen mask. "It's gonna take more than a little glowing to scare me away." 

With that, Ben pulls himself to his feet. "I'm not here to make you come back if you don't want to. But don't stay just because you think you  _ have _ to stay." He offers Reed a hand. "It's up to you." 

For a moment nothing happens, as if the world is taking a deep breath. But the smile Reed gives him after finally taking his hand is the most beautiful thing Ben's ever seen.

 

-

 

They walk in silence for a while, still holding hands. Sue's plotted path is just a distant memory now, but Reed still remembers the landing site, and they take turns leading each other until they're at the base of a familiar cliff. 

Ben squints up at the expanse. "I don't think I can climb that." 

"I wouldn't want you to try," Reed murmurs. He steels himself. "I can find another way around, or I could..." He trails off. "Never mind." 

"What is it?" 

"Nothing. I just thought...if I changed, and I carried you up...but I shouldn't, it's too- just forget about it." He turns away, looking almost embarrassed. 

"Could you do it?" 

Reed rubs at the bridge of his nose. “I think so? I can climb a lot of things now. I mean, I've never carried anyone before, but it shouldn't be that different...” He rakes a hand through his unkempt hair. “It's just, well. I'd have to be...bigger. Like before.” 

Ben almost says  _ Shambler? _ out loud before thinking better of it. It's not like the name would mean anything to Reed. 

Reed keeps going, fidgeting and talking himself dizzy. “So of course it's not ideal or anything, given, well. Circumstances. It's kind of terrible and weird, actually, so like I said, we can just forget it-” 

“Would you drop me?” 

Reed chokes midword. Ben raises his eyebrows. He's not sure if Reed can see the gesture through his faceplate, but it's the sentiment that counts. 

“Of course I wouldn't- I'd  _ never _ -” 

“Then it's fine.” Reed looks at him incredulously. “I mean it. You said it's faster, and I trust you. Okay?” 

For a minute Reed just stares at him, like he's waiting for Ben to suddenly say no. Then, he takes a few steps back, screws his eyes shut, and lets Shambler loose. 

It's like water flowing upwards. A new brightness courses over Reed's skin as he grows up and out, rippling into being, until he opens his eyes at last and Shambler is the one looking out. Those blank beacon eyes settle on Ben again, and he shrugs, stretching himself as if he's waking up. 

“...Reed?” Shambler cocks his head to the side, ducking down to inspect Ben more closely. Seemingly satisfied, he reaches out. But he hesitates. It’s the same as before – like Shambler doesn't trust himself to touch Ben first. 

So of course, Ben walks into his hand instead. “Look, I'm never going to be scared of you.” he says. “Come on. Let's go home.” 

Shambler huffs out an answering breath, and then he lifts Ben up, one giant arm coiling gingerly around Ben’s waist. His hand slithers to press against the back of Ben’s helmet, cradling him there, and the long climb begins. 

Ben doesn’t have many chances to look down. Shambler keeps him held close, using his remaining free limbs to scale the cliff face with inhuman dexterity. Every now and then Ben catches sight of a hand or foot extending out to grasp for a greater height, or reshaping itself to better fit into a crevice. 

When they’re at the top, the quantum gate is waiting for them. Shambler sets Ben on steady ground and shrinks in on himself once more. The transformation takes longer this time, light and body dwindling down until Reed is himself again. Already he looks worried. “That didn’t...bother you, did it?” 

“Nope,” Ben answers automatically. “What about you? It doesn’t hurt you or anything, right?” The concept only occurs to him as he says it, but it still makes his blood run cold. 

“It doesn’t hurt, I promise.” Reed tugs a shred of his environment suit aside to reveal more green creeping up an otherwise unmarked arm. “See? It’s fine, I’m still...me.” 

“Why do you keep saying that?” Ben peers at him through the faceplate. “Like you go away somewhere, when you change – what happens to you, in there?” 

Reed starts to speak, then stops, clearly trying to put his thoughts in the right order. When he tries again, he’s hesitant, but sure. “I don’t mean that I’m leaving, really, when I say that. But when I change, it’s like...like being underwater, or falling asleep. I’m still there, I still remember everything. But everything feels – less, somehow. Like I’m somewhere far away.” 

He surveys the barren expanse of Planet Zero. Ben follows his gaze, but can’t make anything out. “What is it?” 

“I thought Victor might...” 

“That he’d come back?” 

Reed stares out at the horizon. “No,” he says. “No, I guess I didn’t.” 

The alien sun bears down upon them, shrouded behind the clouds. Reed shakes himself, and, almost unconsciously, takes Ben’s hand again. “I'm ready to go.”

 

-

 

After all the trouble it had taken to leave, the journey back to Earth is almost uneventful in comparison. The door slides open. Ben ducks out first, fumbling at his helmet with his free hand. Immediately the uproar overtakes him. Only then does Ben remember: thanks to his still-functioning helmcam, Area 57 has been watching them this whole time. 

The sound only gets worse when Reed follows after him, blinking hard against the sudden lights of the gate room. Upon seeing the horde of onlookers, he freezes, taking an automatic step back – and he stumbles against the quantum gate’s last step, landing hard on the ground. 

The crowd surges forward, and that’s when things start to go wrong. Reed throws an arm up to shield himself and transforms. Not completely, just enough to hide behind, but the shift sends a panic through the room, half the scientists scattering, half trying to get closer, and out of the corner of Ben’s eye he sees  _ a gun that’s a gun why are they pointing  _ **_guns_ ** **-**

So Ben doesn’t really think about it, when he throws himself over Reed and finally succeeds at clawing the helmet off his head. 

“Reed!” He tears the breathing mask away from his face. “Reed, it’s me! It’s Ben!” 

One of Reed’s eyes has already gone totally green. The other is still terrified. Ben doesn’t know what it must feel like, keeping Shambler halfway at bay like this, but he knows he has to bring Reed back all the way if they want to get out of this in one piece. 

“It’s Ben,” he says again, breathless. “It’s okay, you’re safe. Look at me.” 

Slowly, surely, the fear bleeds away. Shambler retreats, leaving Reed behind him, and Ben helps him to his feet, keeping himself between Reed and the world all the while. 

Then Ben notices the field around them, like a glass bubble, forcing everything else away. He knocks on it tentatively, and the sound echoes out across the surface. 

“Sue?” he asks. “Thank you. It’s alright now. He's fine. ” 

Just like that, the barrier ripples away. The crowd stays back, save one person who pushes his way to the front.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Johnny says. “Long time no see, right?” 

“Johnny,” Reed breathes, unbelieving. “You’re alive. You made it back-” And then he’s running, closing the distance between them and hugging Johnny like his life depends on it. It takes Johnny a minute to respond, like he’s forgotten how, but then his arms come up to encircle Reed and the tension is broken. Another field erupts some distance away, pushing onlookers back, and Ben sees the other two Storms making their way forward. 

Then a voice cuts over the growing clamor and leaves the hairs on the back of Ben’s neck standing up. 

“Right,” Dr. Allan says, reclaiming control. He looks marginally less composed than usual, his suit slightly crumpled around the edges, like he'd rushed in putting it on before heading for the scene. “Now that we’re all settled. If we could  _ please _ escort Mr. Richards to the appropriate holding facility for interrogation-” 

“Harvey, it’s the middle of the night.” Ben’s never been more grateful to hear Dr. Storm interject. “Reed’s been through enough already. He’ll still be here in the morning. Let him rest.” 

Dr. Allan is only mollified for a few seconds. “Fine. Put him in one of the open cells after he’s sufficiently decontaminated.” 

Before the Storms can usher him away, Reed twists to look back at Ben, concerned. From this distance, Ben can only nod in response, but that’s enough – if he trusts anyone with Reed, it’s them. Between Johnny and Sue, Ben doubts anyone will be able to get close enough to Reed to bother him. 

Once dismissed, the rest of the scientists and guards begin to disperse, tiredness creeping back in. Ben makes to follow them, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. 

"Not you," Dr. Allan grits out. "You're coming with  _ me _ ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy april fools. here's a fun drinking game for your soul:
> 
> -drink every time I mention anything to do with eyes or looking  
> -drink every time I mention anything to do with hands or touching  
> -take a sip for every time I overuse italics in dialogue  
> -finish the bottle every time ben does something really inadvisable in the name of love
> 
> anyway. it's been some time! but as you can see, I am not quite as dead as I appear. we are still on track for part 7 to be the last part, although I don't know when it will get here.  
> the first third of this chapter took 5 months and the rest of it took 2 days. I used a google doc for the first time in my life and while it is very convenient, I also had to spend 40 minutes fixing what it did to my paragraph formatting. so there's that. 
> 
> say goodbye to the storms, as this is their last onscreen appearance. they have suffered so long and worked so hard and they deserve some rest. 
> 
> (I should have probably given victor a sendoff in the end notes for part 5. he is also very gone now. see you, space trashbag)
> 
> the director's cut is still on the table, mind. haven't decided if I will remaster everything before or after part 7. we'll see how it goes. 
> 
> next time: we all go home at last.


	7. going home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It doesn’t feel real yet,” Reed admits. “I keep expecting to wake up.”
> 
> -
> 
> AU. Ben sleeps through the phone call, Reed doesn't make it back from Planet Zero, and the world is left to reconstruct a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S STILL MONDAY SOMEWHERE
> 
> will edit if something happens but god it Better look good after all the trouble it's put me through

“Do you have any  _ idea _ what you’ve done.”

It’s been more than half an hour since Dr. Allan dragged him off for an impromptu “debriefing” session, but Ben hasn’t actually gotten a chance to say anything yet. 

“-jeopardizing the entire operation, stealing millions of dollars worth of military technology, inciting valuable agents to borderline  _ mutiny- _ ”

“I didn’t make the Storms do anything they didn’t want to do.”  _ Unlike you _ . 

Dr. Allan, as expected, ignores him. “With the amount of laws you’ve broken tonight, you ought to be in prison twice over.” 

Ben takes a moment to examine the interrogation room. The imposing door, one-way mirrors, yet another security camera perched near the ceiling – all he’s missing are handcuffs. Maybe a single swinging lightbulb overhead, for ambience. 

“Luckily for you, we have something different in mind.” Ben pulls back to attention, fixing Dr. Allan with a stare.

“Considering Subj-  _ Reed’s  _ current condition, the decision has been made to... _ extend _ your contract at Area 57.” 

“What does that mean?” It sounds like he won’t be going back to Oyster Bay anytime soon. Which is fine. Ben would never have gone back without Reed anyway.

“You’ll be serving as his handler for the foreseeable future. It’s unorthodox, but these  _ are _ desperate times, after all.” Dr. Allan smiles, or at least Ben thinks it’s a smile. “Your job will be to help our staff in reacclimating him to greater society. We don’t want any more  _ incidents _ to take place.” 

It’s absolutely a trap. Best case scenario, Dr. Allan’s seen what Reed – what Shambler – is capable of, and he thinks Ben is the key to keeping him calm and happy. Worst case scenario...well, Ben already knows how Dr. Allan’s chosen to keep the Storms in line.

Logically, he should be trying to get out. Grovel, apologize, sign anything and everything they want him to sign, and escape Area 57 before he’s completely lost.  

But Reed’s here. And, like always, it isn’t a real choice for Ben when Reed’s involved.

“Do we have an understanding?”

Ben glances up to the camera, making sure it can see him watching back. “We do.” 

 

-

 

That’s how Ben finds himself standing outside the door to Reed’s cell, wondering what he’s supposed to do next. 

The door’s unlocked, but Ben knocks anyway. Somehow, it’s the most nervewracking thing he’s done in the last 24 hours.

He has only a few moments to wonder if Reed’s already asleep before the door swings open. Reed looks awake enough, cleaned up and dressed in the most generic-looking scrubs Area 57 could find on short notice, and relief breaks over his face once he realizes it’s Ben outside. 

“Room for one more?” Ben offers weakly. Reed stifles a laugh and pulls him inside.

The cell’s interior is about as plain as it gets. Bed, side table, bathroom door, a second bed hastily shoved into the most open corner...it doesn’t match Reed at all. Ben drops his bag on the newer bed and turns back to Reed. “You feeling alright, buddy?”

“I’m fine, I think. It’s just...nerves, I guess.” Reed sits down on the edge of his bed. Ben follows him automatically, til they’re sitting side by side. 

“It doesn’t feel real yet,” Reed admits. “I keep expecting to wake up.”

Ben doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just leans a little closer to Reed, until their shoulders are brushing against each other. 

“They told you I was dead, didn’t they?” Ben jolts in place. He hadn’t thought they’d arrive at this part of the conversation so soon. 

Then again, Reed always had a way of plowing on ahead. And it’s easier to talk about it with Reed this close to him, solid and real. “Yeah. They did.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t have anything to-”

“Yes, I do!” The light beneath Reed’s skin pulses a little brighter at his outburst, and he grabs for Ben’s hand like it’s a life preserver. “I left you. I did something stupid and reckless and I  _ left _ you, and I can’t – I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“You didn’t do it on purpose.” Ben squeezes Reed’s hand in his, trying for reassurance. “You didn’t know it would end up the way it did.”

“But I still did it.” 

They sit in silence for a little while, still holding hands. Then, Reed ducks his head and laughs, a startled, nervous sound that echoes through the room. 

“It’s ridiculous, right?”

“...What is?”

“Just...I had so much that I wanted to say, you know? I really thought about it and everything, when I was gone, about what I’d do if I could be back on Earth. And now I’m actually here, and I just keep – getting lost, when I try and put it all together. I don’t know how to  _ start. _ ”

Reed’s hand shifts the barest bit against his. Ben tries not to focus on it too much.

“I thought coming back would be the hardest part. I’ve planned it out so many times in my head, but now I’m here, and I – I’m  _ terrified _ .” 

“What are you scared of?” 

Reed bites his lip. “You.”

Ben drops Reed’s hand and immediately moves to put some space between them, but Reed stops him before he can get away. “Not like that,  _ never _ like that, Ben-” 

“I’m doing this all wrong,” Reed says, more to himself than anyone else. “Can I try again? Please,” he asks. And then, more quietly, “Don’t go.” 

Slowly, surely, they settle back into their place on the bed. Reed’s got his hand again. Ben’s inclined to let him keep it as long as he wants. 

“It’s like I said,” Reed starts. “There were a lot of things I wanted to do, if I could come back home. And maybe...maybe I realized there were certain things I wanted more than the others.” 

“Certain things,” Ben repeats. His mouth feels suddenly dry.

Reed nods sharply. “I-I've thought over how this could go so many times, you know? Just,  _ if I get to see Ben again, I won't hesitate for even a second _ . And now it's actually happening, and I can't- I just- I really want to kiss you, Ben.” Reed breaks off, turning away, like he can’t bear to look Ben in the eye. “They told you I was dead and I left you and it’s been – I don’t even  _ know _ how long it’s been – but I still- I want to kiss you. And I  _ can’t _ .” 

Reed keeps his eyes fixed hard on the ground, like he’s just waiting for Ben to pull away in disgust. Then, when that doesn’t happen, he tries to let go of Ben’s hand himself. “Tries,” because Ben stops him. “Reed.”

No answer. “Reed, look at me.”

Reed looks first at their still-joined hands, then, finally, he lifts his head to meet Ben’s eyes. 

“You don’t...” Ben starts the sentence without knowing where he’s going to end. He tries again. “You don’t have to do everything by yourself.”

“...Ben?”

“You already did all the talking,” Ben manages. “Least I can do is meet you halfway.”

This close, Ben can see the shape of every delicate circuit under Reed’s skin. He fights the urge to trace one with his free hand. 

“Only if you want me to,” he says, watching Reed’s face carefully.

Reed swallows, looking at Ben like he’s still afraid the world might fall apart, and nods almost imperceptibly. 

So Ben leans in.

The kiss starts off shy, almost too gentle. Ben doesn’t know what Reed wants yet, exactly, until Reed shudders against his mouth and starts kissing back in earnest. 

By the time they pull apart to breathe again, Reed's glowing. Literally glowing, green light racing over his whole body, mapping out his veins as it goes. It's a bit weird. Ben thinks he likes it. 

"So?" he asks.

“Well,” Reed says. “That was. Very. ” Ben chokes on a laugh at Reed's expression, just before the look on Reed's face shifts towards concern. "I mean, did you...was I okay?"

This time, Ben actually does laugh. “Buddy, I already love you, trust me, you’ve got nothing to-”

“Wait!” Reed looks like he’s just been struck by lightning. “Say that again. Please.”

Ben hadn’t intended to let it slip out like that, but he supposes now is as good a time as any. “I love you, Reed.”

Reed kisses him again. More than kisses him, he tackles Ben back onto the bed so he’s pinned underneath, until all Ben can do is tangle his fingers in Reed’s shaggy hair and kiss back. 

Eventually, Reed pulls away, flopping down to rest his head against Ben’s shoulder. Ben takes a minute to luxuriate in the feeling of Reed breathing against him. 

“If it’s not obvious,” Reed murmurs against Ben’s neck. “I do, too. Except about you.” He nuzzles closer. “Thank you for coming to save me.”

“I just wish I could’ve brought you home.” Ben strokes Reed’s hair. “It might take us a while to make it back to Oyster Bay.”

Reed props himself up on his forearms, until he’s able to look Ben in the eye. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why?”

“When I’m with you, I’m home.” Reed says it like it’s a law of physics, like he’s memorized it by heart. “That’s all I need.” 

With that, Reed settles back down in Ben’s arms. “I think I’m tired, now,” Reed says. “You’ll stay?”

Ben just kisses the top of his head and smiles. “Yeah. I’ll stay.”

 

-

 

Ben wakes with a start in the dead of night, not knowing where he is. The world looks almost green around the edges, and he blinks hard, forcing his vision to adjust.  _ Oh. _ Apparently Reed still glows when he’s asleep. 

Tomorrow, they’ll have to go back into the world. Ben doesn’t know what will happen, then – not to him or to Reed or the Storms, tangled in this web as they are. And there’s still Victor, walking Planet Zero like a restless ghost, ready for a war...and Dr. Allan, wh seems all too eager to start one. 

Reed stirs in his sleep, and Ben remembers that it’s not tomorrow yet. He presses another kiss to the back of Reed’s neck, and he has enough time for one last thought before he drifts off again.

_ No matter what happens next, you were worth it.  _

And Ben Grimm falls asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...it's over.
> 
> it's actually over. 
> 
> well. okay.
> 
> so, there you have it. our boys, together at last. the future's just around the corner, but for now, I think we'd better let them sleep.
> 
> happy FFFF 2k17. I really intended to have exit wounds completed Before this rolled around, but a lot has changed in the almost two years I've spent writing this fic. I think it's done a lot to help me grow. which sounds cheesy, especially since I'm talking about a movie that only has a 2% lead over the emoji movie, rottentomatoeswise. but it's true.
> 
> thank you all for coming on this grand adventure with me. without you - and I do mean all of you, from the anonymous lurkers who've never said a word to me to the people who first talked to me back on that strange blue website and convinced me to actually Talk about this nonsense - this story would never have been told.
> 
> and I guess thank you to josh trank and company also, for giving me such wonderful compost with which to grow new tales. 
> 
> mind, don't think this is the end of me! life may be busier now, but I still have a Long list of fics I want to try exploring, and even this universe still has some legs on it. (the movie plot isn't technically over yet! victor is still around! what's going to happen to the storms! and is this the worst day of harvey allan's life or what!) 
> 
> thank you, citizens! this is mayor kyakuuu, signing off.


End file.
